(A/N: Prechapter words again. Yes, I'm finally running the show in full. I do have plans for both Naruto and Isaribi. For those wondering about pairings…for Naruto, I'm leaving it in the air for now. I'm taking the Crimson approach to it. To those who read The Outsider's Insurrection, I think you'll get it.)

TWG:R

~The Establishment Arc~

Chapter 5: From One Desert to Another

[Las Venturas]

Isaribi's Friday morning was spent alone this time as she got up in the nude. Marnie had taken a flight to Los Santos after having squirreled a few grand from the slots for herself. She left the promised keys to the apartment for Isaribi. A techno beat played on her phone and she took up her phone.

"Lester Crest." Isaribi said.

"Told you working with the Espilionists was a bad idea." Lester said.

"I admit it was a bad idea, but it worked out." Isaribi pointed before telling him what happened in full.

"I'll keep an eye on this Uzumaki. I'm grateful you're still alive, because I may have work for you and him in the future. How soon will you head back to LS?" Lester asked.

"This afternoon actually. I've been here for nearly a week. It's time." Isaribi remarked. "I want to be back before the end of the weekend. Just to wrap business up. Later, Les."

Lester hung up as Isaribi quickly showered before getting on what she would wear for the day after getting fresh underwear on. She settled on a black ProLaps tank top under an open white Hawaiian shirt with gray palm trees printed on it, black casual jeans, slate round-toe boots, the silver Crowex Datejust watch, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. She got her things in order before putting on a pair of blue-gray contour shades on the way out and slinging her black ProLaps backpack.

Most of her bags were already on the plane and she checked out of the hotel before meeting up with Niko and Roman in the lobby.

"Yo, I'm making my leave today. It was great spending time. Promise me you'll consider going to Jamaica with Little Jacob for that festival that summer." Isaribi remarked. "How soon are you two going to head to LS?"

"Next week. We have to go back and secure a few things." Niko said. "And deal with my winnings."

"How? I don't get it! How did you do so damn well at blackjack and at craps?" Roman asked with a pout.

"Roman, I picked up a lot of habits over the years. Card games were one of them." Niko said as she laughed.

"For what it's worth, this was great. I really need this vacation after all the shit I dealt with. Sorry you had to see Marnie as a fucking Epsilonist. That honestly sucked. But I'm glad to hear Dwayne settled down with a girl and got therapy." Isaribi said wistfully. "By the way, I never asked who the couple was."

"Would you believe it's Brian Meech?" Niko asked, surprising her. "He's been clean and married for seven years now."

"Well, damn." Isaribi said mirthfully. "Good for him."

She bid her goodbyes before leaving the hotel and racing away on the PCJ-600 for the Bone County desert having a new black motorcycle helmet. Out of the Strip and passing into the Blackfield district, she took in the sights for the last time ready to finally head out.

[Los Santos]

Naruto and Franklin were back in Naruto's apartment after an hour of shopping at the Chamberlain Mall, munching on beef tacos. Most of the shopping was done at the mall's Discount Store, nothing too fancy at the moment. However, Naruto was happy for a few new orange threads among the shopping. His phone went off before he answered.

"It's Isaribi." Isaribi remarked.

"Hey, how's Venturas?" Naruto said.

"It was good, but I'm leaving the place now. I'll be in LS come the afternoon considering the air's clear. I managed to get some really good souvenirs. I'll hit you up when I land." Isaribi said. "Later, N."

She hung up and there was a call from Gerald.

"G, got a job for me?" Naruto asked.

[Meth'd Up]

"Yeah, I got a word on a hustle. It's outside a town at this serious dealer's spot, but you don't gotta deal with him. He's been selling chemical to some hillbilly types cookin out their RV. Boost the caravan and meet my dudes at the YouTool depot off the freeway. You get money, and I'm in the crystal game. It's all good." Gerald remarked. "I'll text you the locations."

"All right, I'm on it." Naruto said finishing his burrito before hanging up.

"Work calls." Franklin remarked getting up. "I need to go myself. I got things to do."

Franklin and Naruto fist bumped before Franklin took his leave. Naruto went to change into different choices opting for an orange golf shirt under a black flight jacket, charcoal work pants with a brown belt, and a pair of orange accented skate sneakers. He slipped on his fingerless gloves and tried on the orange Broker shades.

"Perfect." Naruto said before getting the text. "Let's get to work then."

He borrowed Isaribi's Hellfury with the idea being he could stuff it on the Zirconium Journey he had to steal.

An hour later

[Grand Senora Desert]

Isaribi sighed in annoyance. She needed a place to land as the airport was not an option. Worse case scenario, she was going to have to stash the Nimbus somewhere and jack a vehicle to offload her things. She had secured herself property there, a low end house at 140 Zancudo Avenue. Then she said screw it before landing in the flattest part of the Grand Senora Desert, unknowingly crushing a few people. She came out after marking the spot on her map to see she interrupted a deal between some rednecks and the Lost MC.

"Well, shit." Isaribi said, seeing the remaining mooks take aim at her. "SHIT!"

She dove back in the plane pulling up the door to dodge bullets before calling up Naruto.

"Naruto?" Isaribi asked.

"Yeah?" Naruto remarked.

"I'm back in San Andreas, and I could use some backup! I'm pinned down in the Grand Senora Desert…my map says I'm not too far from Harmony." Isaribi said getting her guns ready. "Look, I'm going to fight to hold them off but get here as soon as I can."

[Meth'd Up - Mission Complete! +RP]

Naruto cited that she was lucky she called when he just finished a job out in Blaine County and that he was on the way. She hung up after beaming him the location before putting her phone away. Now was the time to fight and make sure her body armor was on.

[Cues: Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi 2 OST - Lonesome Wild]

WHAM! She opened the plane door, crushing a pair of rednecks trying to open it from the outside. She rolled out with her Automatic 9mm before opening fire. She counted at least two dozen guys seeing there were a few motorcycles, trucks, cars, and a Journey she mused had to be full of meth. She ducked behind a Granger to dodge bullets that hailed the car. She took in her surroundings and she opened the car door before sticking some sticky bombs on the car. She opened the car door seeing the keys in the ignition and turned it before sticking a sticky bomb on the accelerator to keep it down.

She dived out of the car as it barreled at the shooting rednecks before activating the bombs killing five of them. She could not damage the Journey…and at least one of the trucks. A Lost member tried to stab her with a switchblade barely nicking her cheek before she sank her dagger in the biker's neck. Using his body as a shield, she used him to take a few bullets as she used her automatic pistol to fire back.

CLICK! CLICK! It was time for a reload, so she threw off the body to reload. She threw off the body pulling the dagger out before reloading.

"Do yew really thank yew kin innerrupt our deal an' steal our meth, yew fuckin' bitch?!" A redneck roared revealing a minigun.

Isaribi gulped as the minigun began to whir to life as she saw could not just outrun minigun fire…for long. Then there was the blaring of a car horn which played a melody familiar to the city she once called home. Danica's Virgo came pulling a drive-by on the surprised redneck sprayed with bullets. Danica sprang and snatched the minigun.

"Let's see if you can live to see tomorrow." Danica said calmly before opening fire.

The surviving Lost were fleeing to their bikes only to see Naruto speeding up on them on Isaribi's Hellfury spraying with his Micro SMG. One managed to get away only to get sniped by Isaribi. The last man alive...a lone redneck was creeping away to a means of escape only for Naruto to shoot him in the leg.

Naruto parked the bike and walked up to the downed redneck.

"Feller, fuck yew...yew rat gook bastard!" The redneck said.

Naruto switched to his sawn-off shotgun and emptied a shell in the redneck's face, splattering blood, flesh, and brain matter on the desert sand. Isaribi had picked up the fallen cash from the bikers.

[Music Ends]

"Welcome back, Isaribi." Naruto said. "Mind explaining what's going down?"

"I literally landed in the middle of a drug deal." Isaribi said with a sigh. "You?"

"I jacked meth for Gerald. Something about dealing from some serious dealer to hillbillies or some shit." Naruto said as Danica and Isaribi looked concerned. "What?"

"Where did you steal it from?" Danica and Isaribi asked.

When Naruto told them, Danica sighed and Isaribi balked.

"How much did G pay for you for this job?" Isaribi asked.

"Five thousand, but the looks on your faces assume that I should have either paid more or passed on the job." Naruto said sternly.

Before either could answer, Naruto's phone rang with an unknown number and he answered it before putting it on speaker.

"Hello. This is a courtesy call from Trevor Phillips Industries to tell you that you messed up. Very badly. My boss is very angry and you really would not like it when he's angry. He insists you come down to our HQ in Sandy Shores and explain yourself. He told me to tell you to bring a bag of rock candy and powdered sugar. I don't know why, but I'd hurry if I were you. Which right now, I'm glad I'm not."

A blip on Naruto's map showed a 'T' in Sandy Shores. Isaribi looked at the location and facepalmed.

"And the house I just bought is on the same street as Trevor's trailer…I'm never getting the hundred grand I blew for that house. Fuck it. Not like it matters." Isaribi said before calming down. "Let's just see what goods we got and deal with TPI."

Naruto found a few weapons he could take off the dead. A switchblade, a Pistol .50 to replace his old pistol, shotgun ammo, and half a dozen pipe bombs. Isaribi simply took ammo and a pair of black brass knuckles alongside some cash. Danica collected what was not taken.

The first order of business was looking into the Journey and they got their confirmation it was a meth lab with several bags of the stuff.

"It's a good thing they had this Benson." Isaribi said, eyeing the dusty gray Vapid Benson. "I can load everything up."

"The meth?" Naruto asked.

"No, the stuff on the plane. It's better that the meth stays in the RV." Isaribi said before taking off the dead Lost member's jackets. "We'll need these for disguises. Just in case."

She tossed Naruto one to hang onto before the three got through the process of unloading what was on the plane into the Benson.

"Before you say anything, I did buy you several things." Isaribi remarked, wheeling down her Double T. "But wheel my Hellfury into the truck. Considering all the dead bikers, you can take one of their bikes."

Naruto excitedly looked over the motorcycles before settling on a black Western Motorcycle Company Zombie Chopper. It had a gray tribal pattern, skull decals, and look of 'red wall' tires. Naruto got it in the Journey. Danica dealt with the bodies, shoving them up in a Declasse Gang Burrito and shoved them in along with a Liberty City Cycles Hexer before leaving with the van.

She texted them that she'll be back after blowing up the van and to go on ahead. With everything loaded, Isaribi locked up the plane before getting in the Benson. Naruto got in the Journey before they both took off for the drive to Sandy Shores cutting into the desert. It was a tenuous drive while listening to country music. However, they arrived at Sandy Shores. An arid desert town that was once a thriving tourist trap that a somewhat abandoned, poverty-stricken, desolate town with ubiquitous meth labs, trailer parks, drug addicts, gang activity, prostitutes and bigoted rednecks.

Naruto and Isaribi stopped at the local 24/7 to buy a few things along with Trevor's requested items. They finally pulled up at the house, a rather worn down low end house. Decent enough to be worth a hundred grand at least which was a relief to Isaribi. According to the description, it was steps away from a Chinese place and a tattoo parlor. She got the keys and tossed Naruto the spare.

"Before you say anything, my last job when I was out of town got me a place in the city. I had to buy this place…and I guess I may as well share this one considering it's location." Isaribi said sheepishly as Naruto rolled his eyes.

"For what it's worth, it is a town out of the desert with a lake. We could make the most of it." Naruto said as Isaribi frowned. "The lake's no good, is it?"

"Polluted as hell." Isaribi said as Naruto shook his head. "Yeah. Let's just unpack."

Down the road, three figures were watching them but the leader of the three being the most notable. An athletic man that was a little over six feet tall with brown eyes and receding dark brown hair. He had several cuts on his face along with several tattoos. He wore a plain and dirty white V-neck, ripped up dirty blue jeans, a calculator watch on his right hand, and a pair of brown boots.

"Wade, Ron….we got new neighbors."

"Trevor, are we going to say hello?" Wade asked.

"Me and Ron are. You need to go pick up the Chinese food." Trevor said as Wade nodded.

Wade got on his orange Nagasaki Blazer before leaving as Trevor and Ron made the walk over. Isaribi was relieved to see the inside of the house looked far better than the outside. The house had a connected garage and the house's interior looked far more modern. Naruto was reminded a bit of Lamar's place.

"You said this place was worth a hundred grand?" Naruto said, looking around. "Considering all furniture is rather new or slightly used, I could see the reason."

"I loaded the motorcycles in the garage." Isaribi said coming in through the garage door. "Just make sure you have the stuff for Trevor."

"Speak and he shall appear!"

The two turned to see Trevor leaning on the doorway of the front door without a care in the world. Ron came up at the doorway.

"That's him…that's the guy." Ron said.

"Mind explain how you got this house?" Trevor asked calmly.

"I bought it." Isaribi said standing by Naruto's side. "I'm Naruto's partner, Isaribi Umi. I actually just got back from a job in Venturas and I bought this place because I had to make a landing in the nearby desert. I didn't know my partner interfered without your business until nearly a half hour ago. He's new to the criminal underground."

"I know!" Trevor snapped before turning his eyes on Naruto. "I had Wade do a background check on this one. You've barely been an LS a week."

Naruto had eyed Trevor, and the blonde admitted to himself that the man looked both unhinged and intimidating. Normal people would not go around with a 'CUT HERE' tattoo on their neck. However, Naruto did not scare easily and he got the bag with the items Trevor asked for.

"Mr. Phillips, here. Your courtesy call requested that you get this, so I got it." Naruto said as Trevor took in as he came in.

"I didn't expect you to get it." Trevor said with a grin. "But I'm not complaining."

"In the process of arriving here, I crashed a deal between some rednecks and the Lost MC. After they were eliminated, Naruto informed me of what happened and I took the Journey left behind in the crashed deal. Full of meth and I want to give it to you as an apology for my partner's actions." Isaribi said formally. "It's behind the house."

The four left the house and went around back to the RV. Trevor poked out before looking rather pleased.

"This RV's marked. It's one of mine that went missing two weeks ago…did you get the names of the pieces of shit who stole it?" Trevor inquired.

"No. I was in the midst of trying not to die." Isaribi said.

"Well, as long as they're dead…and I got my product back, it doesn't matter. All right, you convinced me not to kill your partner. But he still has to make up for my losses. You two are the eager soldiers I always wanted. You can start by making up for my losses." Trevor said starting up the Journey. "Ron! You plan out the mission to give to these two."

Trevor drove off.

"I'll get the details to you both in a half hour or less. I'll need your number, Miss Umi." Ron said before she gave it to him.

Once Ron left, the duo went inside to take a sigh of relief.

"Isaribi, thanks for that." Naruto said as Isaribi play-punched his shoulder.

"No problem. Best case scenario, we get work. Good work on keeping stone-faced." Isaribi said.

"You weren't so bad yourself, you managed to talk him down." Naruto shot back with a wink.

"Yeah, well. We're going to get a job in a few minutes. I'm going to take a quick shower and get myself changed. You probably should get changed seeing rednecks already saw you in those clothes." Isaribi said leaving for the bathroom.

"I see you bought me boxers. Trying to send a hint?" Naruto teased looking through the clothes she bought for him..

Isaribi started showering without giving him an answer and he smirked victoriously. Isaribi did not want to admit she might be fantasizing about Naruto when buying them. Naruto eyed the brands she bought. Eris, ProLaps, Harsh Souls, VCTM, Rearwall…

Naruto was not displeased with the choices as it also had several orange colored clothes. He changed to a white Heat Classic t-shirt under a tight orange checkered shirt, and orange chinos. He kept on the sneakers and flight jacket before looking to try on a new pair of orange t-bone shades.

"Yes. This is perfect." Naruto said. "Orange and all's right with the world."

Isaribi just hoped he would not get an orange suit. She needed him to have reasonable limits. She finished up her shower and went to get herself ready.

She came out in a Trey Baker pink striped tank under an open light blue-green Hawaiian shirt with dark blue palm trees printed on it, tight black ribbed leather pants, oxblood calf boots, her Datejust watch, her fingerless gloves, a Gaulle gold chain, and a pair of blue contour shades.

"By the way, I have something for you that I wanted to give you personally." She said putting on the gold Crowex Datejust watch on his wrist. "A classic I got my mitts on after that job."

"Not bad at all." Naruto said as they got the text from Ron.

[Crank Up the Volume]

"It looks like Trevor's been smoking more than he's selling again, 'cause we're almost outta cooking chemicals and we ain't sold much Ice. The Lost got a lab in an RV that they keep moving cross-state, their pattern is predictable. It should be stocked with chems, so if you bring it back to us I'll make sure you're paid. R. Jakowski - Also if you need a car…unlocked beaters are always behind the nearby medical center."

The two wordlessly left for the medical center. With Naruto commandeering a beater Sabre, they were on their way to after the RV in question.

"You going to be okay, stealing from the Lost?" Naruto asked as Isaribi was looking at the map.

"Trust me, no love lost for me doing this. I had loyalties, but I had to make a choice. In the end, I found myself." Isaribi said. "It's a long story."

"Well, considering the radio's a mess…and we've got work. I could use a story." Naruto said, speeding down the desert road. "Something to pass the time…"

"Well, it all started years ago. I was an eighteen year old punk with a mouth. It was me, Estelle, and Danica against the world. But let me tell you about when the cracks began to start." Isaribi said before she began her story.

Current Stats:

Naruto - $45,921 - Current Weapons: Fist, Switchblade, Pistol .50, Sawn-Off Shotgun, Micro SMG, Carbine Rifle, Pipe Bombs

Isaribi - $309,350 - Current Weapons: Brass Knuckles, Antique Calvary Dagger, Automatic 9mm, Sweeper Shotgun, MG, Carbine Rifle, Marksman Rifle , Sticky Bombs

(A/N: Yes, we're getting a flashback chapter focusing on GTA IV. I wanted to experiment with these flashback chapters in this style of storytelling. I also was pleased with how I introduced Trevor. Despite Naruto and Isaribi visibly showing no fear, they were on eggshells with him…which I felt was reasonably realistic.)